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MR. WATMOUGH, 


OF PENNSYLVANIA, 


ox 


THE GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILI 

DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 


April 9 , 1834 . 



WASHINGTON : 


PRINTED BY GALES 8c SEATON. 








































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REMARKS. 


The amendment of Mr. Vance, of Ohio, being under consideration, 

Mr. Watmough rose, and said : I find, Mr. Chairman, I have been in 
some measure anticipated in what I proposed to say to the committee, by 
the remarks of the honorable gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Mason,) 
who has just taken his seat. He has explained to the committee the mis¬ 
conception under which he appears to have labored, of the duties of the 
officer whose salary is now tinder consideration. I hold the law in my 
hand. By a reference to it, I perceive that, on the 9th of July, 1832, at 
the close of a most momentous session, and amidst all the hurry incident 
thereto, a clerkship of the War Department, whose duties had been pre¬ 
viously and ably performed for a compensation of 1,600 dollars, is con¬ 
verted, by the law passed that day, into a separate and distinct bureau, 
and the clerk becomes a Commissioner of Indian Affairs, at an increased 
salary of three thousand dollars. 

It may be, sir, that all this was perfectly right; it may be, that the circum¬ 
stances of the case made this increased expenditure not only expedient, 
but absolutely necessary. The duty had been always very satisfactorily 
performed, antecedent to the election of the present Chief Magistrate, 
by a single officer, as I suppose, at the reasonable compensation of sixteen 
hundred a year. If I am incorrect in this, I trust I shall be set right. The 
change, therefore, strikes me as being somewhat rapid from a subordinate 
clerkship, at a very moderate rate of compensation, to a distinct and in¬ 
dependent bureau, at three thousand dollars per annum. This statement, 
however, does not cover the whole case ; for I find, by looking a little 
further into this law, that this Commissioner of Indian Affairs has allow¬ 
ed him four additional clerks, at an annual cost to the people of Jive thou¬ 
sand dollars. 

All this, sir, no doubt, was demanded by the exigencies of the public 
service ; and being so, I should be the last to find fault with it. I can¬ 
not but recollect, however, Mr. Chairman, the cry of retrenchment and 
economy, upon which the present administration came into power. The 
land rung with it, far and wide ; our cities were thrown into the most 
violent agitation ; and the honest and independent yeomen of our valleys, 
under the influence of one common feeling, rushed to the polls, as the 
only means left to them by which to restore the bright and halcyon days 
of economy and reform : hopes, sir, of the most alluring character, were 
blazoned forth ; prospects, such as had never before been realized, were 
portrayed ; prices were to be enhanced ; and labor, sir, honest labor , “ pre¬ 
pared his simple fare” under the fond, perhaps, in too many cases, bane¬ 
ful delusion, that luxurious abundance was soon to take the place of that 
steady temperance w hich had hi herto cc ruled his board.” 



4 


How all this has been realized, a few short, melancholy years but too 
plainly tell. I do not mean to take up your time, Mr. Chairman, unneces¬ 
sarily, by recapitulating the facts, the statistical facts, which my honorable 
friends from Kentucky and Ohio (Mr. Vance and Mr. Chilton) have 
so sensibly, clearly, and concisely laid before you ; they speak volumes ; 
and I trust, sir, they will meet the eye of every freeman in the land. 

In that great contest of 1828, to which I have alluded, no one took a more 
active and decided part than the honorable gentleman from Kentucky on 
my left, (Mr. Chilton. ) Ardent and patriotic then, as he is now, he be¬ 
lieved fully all the wondrous tales of extravagance and corruption upon 
which eloquence exhausted, I had almost said debased, her highest 
powers; he took the lead, and persevered in the cause until he found 
himself, as he tells us, an isolated being; the friends with whom he had 
co-operated, and by whose arguments he had been led astray, had fallen 
far in his rear, or were seated comfortably in the high places of emolu¬ 
ment and power. I need say nothing further in reference to this matter, 
after his own eloquent, truly eloquent remarks—historical reminis¬ 
cences, I might rather call them, of yesterday; he explained his own 
motives, and they will be duly appreciated ; he told us of his disappoint¬ 
ments, and they may readily be conceived. Much as I feel for my honor¬ 
able friend, I thank Heaven, sir, I never belonged to the party which 
then succeeded in gaining power. I never approved of the candidate 
who was then put forward; I approved less of the means that were 
adopted to ensure his success : from both much misfortune has resulted, 
and is likely to result, to my country. Would to Heaven I possessed the 
means to avert the fatal consequences which I then anticipated, and which 
I now but too plainly perceive are about to be realized. 

Sir, I have never been a radical, and never mean to be, in the ordinary 
acceptation of that term; the idea is altogether uncongenial to my mind, and 
to my mode and habit of thinking. On the contrary, since I have had the 
honor of a seat on this floor, I have labored industriously to raise the 
compensation of a noble and valuable class of public officers. The docu¬ 
ments laid on your tables, at various times, have given ample proof of 
this. I have, at all times, desired, and do still desire, to add to the com¬ 
fort and convenience of the civil as well as military officers of the Go¬ 
vernment. But, sir, the circumstances of the case are strangely altered 
of late ; the posture of public affairs is indeed altogether portentous ; 
and I almost fear that unless that degree of relief which Congress has it 
in her power to give, be afforded to the free citizens of this republic, 
whose fortunes are now sinking, and whose energies are depressed by 
the maladministration of their public affairs, I say I almost fear I shall 
feel myself constrained to waive all future effort; to abandon, at least for 
the present, all idea of consummating what I have always fondly hoped 
to effect—the plan for ameliorating the condition of the officers attached 
to another branch of the public service. Mr. Chairman, this House has 
lately, by a vote which has cast dismay into many a once happy circle, 
refused that relief. The husbandman, the merchant, the manufacturer, 
the mechanic, and he whose daily pleasure is his daily, honest toil, 
must no longer look to this quarter for relief. The plough may rust in 
the furrow, the ship lie dismantled at the wharf, the loom be broken 
down, and the price of labor entirely ..depreciated, the currency, upon 


5 


whose healthy action all depends, debased, but not one jot or tittle of the 
“ great experiment” be bated, or one single point of it be conceded or 
abandoned. No, sir; it is to themselves alone the people must look; 
they hold the remedy in their own hands, and that they will in due time 
apply that remedy, I can have no sort of doubt. When that takes place, 
sir, then will come a day of reckoning indeed ; and if there be justice in 
the order of Providence, which no one can deny, a deep and solemn day of 
retribution will it be. It is true the progress to it lies through a wilder¬ 
ness of despair; the groans of the heart-broken father, whose meridian 
hopes have been utterly subverted, will be heard on all sides ; the deep 
suppressed agony of many a devoted mother will ascend to Heaven, and 
the sighs of youth and innocence, at hopes blighted and prospects anni¬ 
hilated on the very threshold of existence, will fill the surrounding air, 
until the whole be banished by one general shout of execration, long and 
loud, sent forth against the base contrivers of so much ruin and dismay. 
Would to God, Mr. Chairman, I again repeat, I held the means to arrest 
the downward tendency of affairs. Would to God that, by a personal 
sacrifice, I could turn aside from my beloved country the consequences 
which hard-hearted ignorance and reckless political design are about to 
bring upon her, and her hitherto unclouded prospects. Sir, I have em¬ 
ployed the only means in my power, common to every freeman of the 
land; I have recorded my vote, in every stage of its progress, against 
the unjust, unconstitutional, and illegal act of the President of the United 
States. 

On these general principles, Mr. Chairman, I shall feel it to be my so¬ 
lemn duty, at whatever cost of personal feeling, to sustain the amend¬ 
ment of my honorable friend from Ohio, (Mr. Vance.) My distinguished 
friend and colleague near me (Mr. Binney) placed this matter on its 
true basis yesterday. With that beauty and eloquence of expression, 
which grace all he utters, he spoke of the necessity of establishing a 
living sympathy between that vast and organized body of office-holders, 
the forty thousand legionaries of the party, and the people. Sir, I have 
already disclaimed the title of radical, nor am I particularly ambitious of 
that of reformer ; but, sir, I am anxious to make one more effort in a good 
cause. I think the amendment proposed will effect a great good, and 
shall sustain it throughout. 

I have been, however, sir, not a little surprised at the air and manner 
with which this proposition is met by the gentlemen who sustain the 
administration on this floor. They affect to treat it as a measure not seri¬ 
ously intended. In this, they will find themselves grievously mistaken. 
But, sir, we are gravely told that an appropriation bill is not a proper 
place upon which to engraft an amendment intended to diminish the 
expenses of the Government. It was, however, deemed quite proper to 
introduce into it a clause which went not only to increase expenditure, 
but actually to create a new appointment. I leave the honorable mem¬ 
bers to arrange this inconsistency among themselves. I must take leave, 
however, to remind them that a large minority of this House, and a dis¬ 
tinguished majority of the other branch of the Legislature, believe the 
late act of the administration to be a high-handed usurpation of power, 
above all law, and against the spirit and the letter of the constitution, 
derogatory to the rights of the people, and dangerous to the public inte- 


6 


rests, whose guardians we are duly constituted. Sir, we cannot fail to 
recall to our minds the fine old maxim of English liberty, that when 
there are grievances of a deep and serious cast—grievances that have 
been induced by acts of maladministration on the part of our rulers— 
grievances that have invaded the hearths of all classes of the community, 
and destroyed the peace and happiness of masses and of families— a redress 
of these grievances ought to accompany every hill of supplies. An ap¬ 
propriation bill not a fit place to introduce an amendment having this 
great principle in view! Sir, I contend that, of all occasions, it is the 
very fittest and most proper. Sir, when no other ground is left, this 
at least remains, upon which to make a last great effort to secure to the 
people that mite of liberty they may still have left, and restore a violated 
constitution to its pristine health and vigor. Sir, our minds and our ef¬ 
forts are refreshed by the recollections that on this great principle of 
supplies and grievances all the great contests for civil liberty have been 
waged—all the most brilliant triumphs in favor of the rights of man been 
gained. Here it was, sir, that Hampden made his stand during the 
unhallowed reign of the first Charles. He cast not a thought upon the 
miserable twenty shillings of which they sought to rob him. No, sir, 
he struck for the laws and the liberties of his country; he determined 
to resist an unconstitutional act of authority that tended to sap the foun¬ 
dations of her liberties, and totally subvert the rights of the subject. It 
is true, sir, this term does not apply to us. We are no man’s subjects— 
free born citizens, and subject only to the laws, we propose to live, and 
such I trust we shall die. Like Hampden, sir, if we lose what we are 
contending for, still we hope to be able to arouse the minds of the people to 
a consideration of the acts of the administration, and the principles involved 
therein. Believing, as we do, that those acts are unconstitutional and 
unjust, ruinous to the welfare of the people, and as destructive to their 
civil rights as to their individual interests, we should be unmindful of our 
solemn duties to them, and of the oath we have taken to support the con¬ 
stitution and the laws, were we to permit an opportunity like the present 
to pass unheeded—were we to fold our arms in criminal silence, and 
make no effort to arrest the progress of usurpation, and redeem the 
spirit of the law. I, at least, sir, will make the effort; I shall vote for 
the proposed amendment throughout. I shall contest every question¬ 
able item of this bill. I shall aid in exposing whatever of enormity 
it contains. Indeed, sir, I might feel myself warranted in going much 
further; I might refuse my vote to the appropriation of a single dollar 
until the money of the people was restored to its legally appointed 
place of deposite—at least until it was again brought within the pale 
of its constitutional guardians—until the acts of the President were 
repealed, and the powers of the constitution restored. Even to this 
extent have I received the instructions of a large mass of my con¬ 
stituents. But, sir, I do not desire to go as far as the highly indignant 
state of their feelings, sanctioned as those feelings are by the generally 
depressed condition of their affairs, would authorize me to go. My posi¬ 
tion here enables me, perhaps, to judge more calmly of the high respon¬ 
sibility and general effect of such a measure. It might be attended with 
results of the most injurious character to the good faith of the nation ; 
it ought not at least to be adopted but as a measure of the last resort, and 


7 


after the most serious advisement. Out of the present measure, how¬ 
ever, none but the most beneficial consequences can flow. 

The struggle to be made here must not, and shall not, so far as I am 
concerned, be viewed in the light of mere opposition to the passage of 
a bill on party grounds ; on such grounds I never have, and, if I know 
myself, I never shall oppose an appropriation for the benefit of the peo¬ 
ple at large. This, sir, is a widely different matter. I consider it as a 
great struggle for liberty, and, as such, I shall persevere in it; and 
sooner or later am I convinced that the people themselves will fly to the 
aid of the minority, and compel the majority to do that which they have, 
thus far, obstinately refused to do— respect their voice , and he mindful 
that theirs is even a higher duty than subserviency to the dictates of 
party. One word more, sir, and I am done. 

We have been told to-day, and, indeed, all well remember the princi¬ 
ples and pledges which enabled General Jackson to gain the seat he 
now occupies ; they were such as enabled him to sweep all before him ; 
all hearts were fascinated by the dangerous illusion of military glory, 
and the party thus formed was cemented together by the most flattering 
promises of universal reform. A political whirlwind swept over the 
whole land; no one could resist its influence; the wisest, and best, and 
most unbending republicans were hurled from their seats; all who at¬ 
tempted to withstand its influence were overwhelmed; charges of the 
foulest corruption were brought against the purest and best patriots of 
the republic; the expenses of the Government were reported to have 
been carried beyond all bounds, and the money of the people misapplied 
and squandered. The result was inevitable. The administration came 
into power, and certainly never, in any country, did any administration 
assume the helm of State with greater means to immortalize itself, by dis¬ 
pensing the blessings of good government in every quarter, or with a surer 
prospect of being most unanimously sustained. But, sir, what has be¬ 
come of all the hopes and promises that were held out? Are the free 
and independent yeomanry of Pennsylvania, and of the South and West, 
now to be told, all this ivas mere humbug , a phrase become fashionable 
of late in this House, but which I ought to apologize for employing; 
we wanted your votes, and we promised largely; we have gained our 
ends , and you must remain satisfied until we want you again? Will 
they be satisfied thus to be led by the nose, driven in masses to the 
polls, on delusive grounds, to drop their votes into the ballot boxes 
only to serve the purposes of selfish, heartless, political leaders ? Sir, 
I do not believe it. We, who were not for reform, when no necessity 
for reform existed, now come forward, and at a period of the deepest 
and most universal distress. We ask these quondam reformers to 
meet their pledges. We ask them now to prove to the people, that 
when they called upon them to pull down and destroy all that was 
distinguished and virtuous in the country, they did not mean to de¬ 
ceive them. Sir, if that be the case, 1 for one am determined the 
people shall know it; I will not suffer them to be deceived. I call, 
therefore, upon the friends of the administration, whose motto was re¬ 
form, now to come up to the ground they once so warmly affected : the 
general distress pervading all classes of society, the memorials with 
which your tables are burdened, all call upon them to redeem their 


8 


pledges; to prove that, in exciting the enthusiasm of the people, they had 
nobler objects in view than merely to gratify their own selfish ends ; 
that, in driving out the wise and the good from all participation in public 
affairs, they did not alone purpose to make their own advances to unre¬ 
strained power more sure and speedy. I call upon them now to prove 
that the standard under which they fought was not emblazoned with 
fraud and deceit. 

Sir, we believe that, in the course now adopted, great and vital princi¬ 
ples of civil liberty are involved; and for myself, sir, sooner would I seek 
banishment to some desert island or lonely rock, than set up a pretence 
which my conscience did not sanction, or follow any standard intended 
only to deceive. 

I trust, therefore, Mr. Chairman, that this doctrine, that an appropria¬ 
tion bill is not a fit subject of reform, will be abandoned; that the 
friends of the administration will at length redeem the pledges with 
which they have so long amused the country; and that, in discussing this 
question, they will deign to meet the great principles of civil liberty 
which it involves. Sir, I have done. 









